If I Could Fly
by StavrosG
Summary: Following several OCs and the different ways they use their abilities. Some give, some take. Some help others, some help themselves. Cancelled
1. Overture

This chapter introduces the main characters of the first part of the story. I'm not giving away much in this one.

* * *

"If I Could Fly"

Chapter 1 – Overture

The fist stopped just short of the door. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. He thought about turning back then remembered the three hour train ride he had taken just to get here. He couldn't go back now. But what if it was still there? How would he deal with it? He hadn't thought this trip through at all. He was nervous, and being nervous scared him. There was not much that could make him nervous anymore.

He forced his fist to make contact with the door. Whatever happened, he would deal with it the way he had always done. Less than a second after he started knocking, the door was almost ripped off its hinges as it was opened and something hit him in the chest with a squeal, almost knocking him to the ground. He looked down to find a familiar young woman of nineteen years clinging to him.

"Hey Dev. How've you been?" He asked the face embedded in his shoulder.

"Zain, I've been OK. How are you?"

The woman released Zain and took a step back. Zain brushed his long blond hair out of his eyes and beheld his old friend Devon Schaffer. Her shoulder length black hair, tanned skin and long legs. For the first time in months he looked into those massive brown eyes and found the answer to his earlier question. It was still there. That feeling that spread through his body whenever he saw something unspeakably beautiful.

"I'm fine," he said breathlessly.

They stepped into the building and Devon led Zain down a short hallway until they found themselves in a living room. It had all the usual features of a living room including a sofa and T.V plus it had a fridge, cooker and sink.

"You have a kitchen in your living room. Cool," remarked Zain.

"Well we can't afford the bigger dorms so we've had to become expert space savers," explained Devon.

Besides the furnishing there were three people waiting for them in the living room, looking to be introduced. One of the guys was tall, the other was about a head shorter than Zain. The last person was another young woman, about the same height as the shorter guy. Zain was able to guess who they all were before Devon started to talk.

"This is my room mate, Charlotte, and her boyfriend, Ben." said Devon.

"Devon told me about you all before I came out here," Zain told them as he shook their hands.

"And this is my boyfriend, Jed," presented Devon.

"Nice to meet you," lied Zain.

The truth was this Jed made him feel uneasy. Not only was this man tall, standing an inch or two above the already tall Zain, he was also broad and gave off a feeling of power. He seemed to dominate the room. He smiled at Zain as they shook hands but Zain could see past it into the eyes that appeared to be sizing him up, calculating, making him nervous again.

"Its amazing how dry you are," Jed observed.

"Why's that?" Asked Zain.

"Its been pouring with rain outside for an hour."

* * *

Eddie turned the lights out. Lightning always looks more impressive in the dark. He sat in his chair with a beer and watched the storm raging outside. He never used to like lightning but had grown fond of it over the last year. In fact it had been about a year since he had a reason to be scared of anything.

He glanced to the empty seat beside him and sighed. The usual occupant of that chair had gone to visit an old friend of theirs at university. Or rather, a friend of Zain's. Devon and Eddie had never really been friends. They had been so much more. That is why Eddie had chosen not to go with Zain. He didn't know how awkward it would be and didn't want to find out.

He wondered what the two of them would talk about. They had a lot of catching up to do. Eddie's heart jolted faster. What if he told her about what happened last year, what they could now do. The two guys needed to keep that between themselves. They had read the comics, seen the films. They knew what would happen to them if this got out somehow.

* * *

Devon thought back to three months ago and wondered if Zain's prediction had come true. He had hurt her that day and she promised she would strive to make sure he was wrong. She had not kept that promise very well and only managed to talk to him once since leaving her home for university. It was that conversation that led to her inviting him to visit for a few days.

Now she wasn't so sure if she wanted him here. Seeing him brought back a lot of memories. She had lived in a world of difficult choices. The images of people she used to love clouded her minds eye causing her actual eyes to become clouded with tears. She quickly pushed the tears back and the images to the back of her mind. She shouldn't be thinking of things that have already happened, things she had no control over.

She forced her mind back to the present where she decided she was being stupid. The return of an old friend should be a happy moment. She had missed Zain, and it was good to see him again. She felt a little bad for leaving him at the dorm while she and Jed went for dinner at a restaurant to celebrate the first month of their relationship. Zain didn't seem to mind though, said he would probably check out the local pubs. Devon hoped he didn't get lost. She knew about his sense of direction, or lack of it.

She looked across the table to Jed. She had a better life now. Or so she had thought until about a month ago.

* * *

"Eddie, stop worrying, I'm not gonna tell anyone. I'm not that stupid," Zain reassured his friend over the phone.

He looked around outside the pub. Which way was the dorm from here? He cursed his sense of direction. Shaking his head, he stepped inside. He'll find his way back later. If need be he could always give Devon a drunk call asking to be picked up. He smiled at the image, then saw the pretty girl girl behind the bar and his smile broadened. He knew just how to deal with his feelings for Devon.

"Dude," he said into the phone, "you should've come too, you'd love it here."

* * *

The man sat at the table deep in thought. There was something about this Zain he didn't like. The way he looked at Devon, the way he quickly changed the subject after it was mentioned that he was dry when he came in despite it raining outside. Both of these spelled trouble. The hair on the back of the man's neck stood on end. He sensed a storm coming. One he would meet head on.

* * *

Next chapter:  
Abilities unveiled  
Fights break out


	2. Sanctuary

Thanks to the s33r and silentlysnowing for the reviews

* * *

"If I Could Fly"

Chapter 2 – Sanctuary

There is nothing quite like a quiet pub. No interruptions, no judgement. Just you, your favourite songs playing on the jukebox and a pint. It is a haven, a second home. The walls lock out life's trials and tribulations like a forcefield, keeping you safe and carefree inside. It is a special place. Everyone needs a special place, even extraordinary people.

Zain was an extraordinary person. He remembered the teachers in primary school telling him how everyone is special in their own way. Back then he believed them. But over time things changed. People changed. Zain changed.

He had been thrust into whole new world. If you had told him a year ago that everything he had read in the comics was true, he would have laughed in your face and called you brain sick. But that was before the eclipse. Zain did not know if it came from the eclipse itself, but after that day he could do something phenomenal. He could create --

"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

Zain sighed. There's nothing like a quiet pub.

He was forced from his trance-like state by the excessive vocalizations of a very angry drunk. He looked up to find the large man standing over another one who appeared to be unconscious. The angry man looked up at the girl behind the bar and saw the look of horror on her face. Zain looked across at another man sitting at a nearby table as the drunk started to stumble purposefully towards the bar.

"Don't they have a bouncer here?" Zain asked the man nearby.

"Yeah, one of them is big, drunk and really pissed off. The other has just been knocked out."

Zain stood up and prepared himself. The drunk bouncer grabbed the barmaid and roughly pulled her over the bar. He held onto her shirt with one hand and raised the other hand above his head. Before he could strike he felt something grab his wrist. He let go of the terrified barmaid and turned to face the challenger.

"Are you the next contestant?" He half spoke-half slurred.

Zain looked the man right in the eye, unable to speak out of anger. This man had just knocked another his size out cold, there was no way the girl would have been able to defend herself.

The bouncer directed a powerful blow at Zain's face. Despite being intoxicated, his aim was true. But his fist did not connect with Zain's face. Instead, it stopped inches away and still an audible crunch was heard as the man's knuckles broke.

Zain was an extraordinary person. This man was about to find out how extraordinary Zain was. After the eclipse he could do something phenomenal. He could create an invisible, impenetrable forcefield around himself, keeping himself safe from any attack inside.

Drunkenly unfazed by his broken bones, the bouncer brought out a knife and relaunched his attack. He tried to strike Zain with the knife but, just like his fist, it shattered on the unseen wall before it could reach its target.

Zain countered the attack by striking the bouncer in the face. The forcefield-covered fist hit like a ton of bricks. More bones cracked from the force and the bouncer stumbled backwards several steps. Zain struck again, this time with an uppercut that knocked out several teeth. A final blow to the face sent the bouncer colliding with the wall of the pub and knocked him out cold.

* * *

"You got into a fight on your first day here!" Devon screamed in disbelief.

"If you can call that a fight. Its more 'I kicked some guy's ass on my first day here.'"

"What were you thinking!"

"For your information I was thinking 'big guy has to be stopped before he kills someone!' More specifically, before he kills very attractive barmaid."

Devon huffed and was about to retort but Zain cut in before she could say anything.

"Can we continue this after you put some clothes on?"

Devon stormed into her room. Earlier that morning she had woken to find her boyfriend, Jed, in her bed and their clothes strewn over the floor. Momentarily forgetting she had a visitor sleeping on her sofa, she had quickly thrown on one of Jed's large shirts and made her way through to the kitchen area to make breakfast, only to be startled by Zain's voice.

"Looks like you and Jed celebrated your one month anniversary in style," he had noted.

She quickly changed the subject and asked him what he got up to last night, and so the argument began.

Back in her room she was busy getting dressed properly while Jed stepped in the en suite shower. Zain called through the door to her from just outside.

"I still don't see what I did wrong. The guy could have seriously hurt someone."

"That's just it," she replied, "I don't want to be the one to tell your family you're dying in hospital."

She opened the door, fully dressed, to a bafflingly empty hallway.

"Trust me, I can take care of myself." His voice drifted up from below.

Devon looked down to discover Zain sitting against the wall. She slid down it to sit next to him.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't realise you were worried. I thought you were just mad at me for knocking a guy out."

"You knocked him out?!"

Zain just looked at her for a second.

"No." He lied, blatantly.

Devon half sighed, half laughed.

"I missed you," she said tenderly.

"I missed you too."

Devon looked away. She could not bare those deep blue eyes at this moment.

"Really?"

"Of Course."

"Its just... the last time I saw you..."

Devon's eyes glistened with tears. He had inflicted heavy wounds when he said those things a few months ago. They were yet to heal, it seemed. Zain looked away, he did not know what to say.

"Still," said Devon, deciding to focus on more current affairs, "taking on that bouncer, that kinda makes you a hero."

Zain smiled, "did I mention he had a knife?"

* * *

The storm still raged outside Eddie's window. Just as well, he was pent up with a lot of energy and needed to discharge. He left the apartment for the woods nearby. Sometimes he cursed this ability.

He and Zain could both do incredible things. The only problem was that compared to Zain's defensive ability, Eddie's was destructive. Every so often it would build up inside him and he would have to let it out before it bursts out of him. In these situations he made for the usually empty woods, where no one could get hurt. But the woods alone were not enough. The storm is what really provided the perfect cover.

He reached a clearing, ready to expel his energies when he was stopped by a voice.

"I'm guessing you're an electricity manipulator," it said.

Eddie spun around to discover he was being watched by a woman about his age with long, black hair.

"I figured it was either that or weather control," she continued.

"This is a very bad time to be near me," Eddie warned. He looked at his hands and saw blue sparks jumping between his fingers. He was beginning to lose control.

"I wouldn't release it all just yet," advised the girl, "you're gonna need it very soon."

Before Eddie could ask the girl what she was talking about, the clearing was full of people in body armour and wielding guns and Eddie understood. No longer able to keep his ability in check, he let it explode out of him. The black clouds glowed blue and roared thunder at him as he let his powerful electrical energies overwhelm him. After what seemed like ages, he finally emptied his bottomless pit of electricity and collapsed on the cold ground.

* * *

"Do you even know why he was attacking people?" Devon asked Zain as Jed left the building for his own place.

"Not a clue. Guess he's just one of those who gets violent when he's drunk."

Maybe she never should have shouted at Zain. After all, if his actions at the pub last night were anything to go by, he may the only person capable of helping her. She did not want to push him away. Everyone needs a special place. About a month ago Devon let a man into her dormitory and her special place was turned into hell.

* * *

The man sat at the table deep in thought. He had just heard from his girlfriend what Zain had done at the pub last night. It appears he was right to think Zain was going to be trouble. The storm was getting closer and stronger. He would not weather this storm, he would conquer it.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Entrance Of The Conflagration

Thanks to the s33r and MikeWriter28 for reviewing.

* * *

"If I Could Fly"

Chapter 3 – Entrance Of The Conflagration

Devon and her room mate, Charlotte, both had lectures at the university so Zain had spent the day showing himself around town. He took a walk through the woods. They made him think about the woods back home. These woods had probably never seen the sort of things the woods at home had. Extraordinary things happened in the woods at home. Zain decided the woods here were dull and made his way to the town centre. Being a university town, it was bristling with activity. So much so, Zain found himself unable to move. He gave up on the town and went back to the dormitory.

The day only got worse. The door was unlocked but the place seemed empty.

"Devon?" Zain called as he looked around to see if they had been robbed. The only reply he got was a faint weeping coming from Devon's room. He knocked on her door.

"Devon?" He repeated.

"I'm fine," she sobbed. She clearly wasn't.

Zain opened the door and stepped in to find Devon sitting on the floor, knees up to her chin, tears gushing out of her eyes.

"What's up?"

"Nothing," she said weakly.

"You don't get that upset over nothing."

Zain couldn't bear to see Devon like this. A wave of determination washed over him to find out what was making her so upset and put everything right. He wanted her to smile again. Nothing in the world was more important. He sat down next to her and immediately formed a theory.

"How did this happen?" He inquired, taking her arm in his hand after he spotted a large bruise on the inside of her forearm.

"I … walked into a door," Devon answered.

"I know that's not true, Dev. I know you too well to fall for that. Besides, unless you were walking with your arms twisted the wrong way, I can't see how you could bruise that part of your arm on a door.."

Zain's dad was a paramedic. Over the years Zain had picked up a few things.

"Also," he continued, "this doesn't look like the sort of bruise you'd get from walking into a door. It looks more like you've been hit by a large blunt object. Possibly attached to a large arm connected to a large blunt head."

Zain could not contain his suspicions any longer. He pulled Devon's head round so he was looking straight into those massive brown eyes he loved so much.

"Devon, did Jed do this to you?"

* * *

Eddie had trouble staying on his feet, still dazed after his recent outburst of electrical energy. Looking around at his surroundings, he found about a dozen men in armour lying motionless on the ground. His knees buckled and he fell on all fours. He had never killed before. He cursed his ability now more than ever. It never did any good for anyone.

"Are you done? I'd like to get moving and it would be in your best interest to follow me."

Looking up at the source of the voice, he saw the girl he encountered earlier. He had kept her alive when he fried the armed men.

"Who are you? How do you know about me?" He asked the girl as she swayed in and out of focus.

"My name's Bayley. I work for my dad collecting people like you and me. I heard about you and decided to help you so you could help me. I'll explain more later, we need to move before he sends more men."

Bayley started to move away, but Eddie was not going anywhere.

"Whoa, hang on a minute," said Eddie, staying put.

His head spun with all the information. It was not helping him keep his balance.

"What do mean 'people like you and me'? And what am I supposed to be helping you with?" He asked

"I suppose I can answer that first question."

She held out her hands and they burst into flame.

"I have an ability like you," she explained.

She thrust her arms towards the woodlands behind her and streams of fire shot from her hands. Despite the fact that it was still raining, the trees easily started to blaze.

"That should slow them down," Bayley said, grabbing Eddie's sleeve and dragging him into the part of the woods she hadn't set on fire.

* * *

"Devon?"

Jed's voice echoed through the hallway to Zain's ears. The door to Devon's room opened and Jed appeared in the doorway.

"What's going on?" He asked, seeing Devon crying on the floor and Zain sitting next to her with her arm in his hand.

"Devon," said Zain, ignoring Jed, "did he do this to you?"

"What--!" Began Jed.

"Wait!" Ordered Zain. He held his arm out towards Jed and felt a familiar feeling of safety and security as an invisible forcefield was raised around him. But to Zain, it wasn't enough. He wished the unseen wall would stretch out, keeping Jed as far away from Devon as possible. Then, miraculously, it did. It was as if his ability was feeding on his powerful feelings of hate and anger at this man. His forcefield extended in Jed's direction, slowly pushing him back out of the room, and stopped in the open doorway.

"What the--!" Started Jed, a look of confusion on his face.

Zain tweaked the forcefield slightly so that it not only kept out Jed but also any noise from outside the invisible wall. An earlier welcome evolution of his ability.

"Devon," Zain repeated.

Devon gazed at Zain, her face a mixture of wonder and confusion.

"No," she said finally, "it wasn't him."

"Then who?"

From the corner of his eye, Zain saw a new figure appear in dormitory. It was Charlotte, Devon's room mate who Zain didn't see very often as she spent most of her time at her boyfriend's place. Devon saw her too and her tears flowed suddenly harder and faster. Zain looked back at Devon and the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He relaxed his forcefield a little, allowing Jed and Charlotte to be heard and to enable them to hear what Zain and Devon were saying.

"Ben?" He asked Devon.

She was unable to talk but she very slowly nodded her head a little. Zain dissipated the forcefield completely and a confused Jed and Charlotte cautiously stepped inside the room.

"Did you know?" He asked the two of them. They didn't seem to have a clue what he was talking about. Devon found her voice and explained what had happened.

"When I first met Jed a month ago, I was introduced to him by Charlotte and Ben when Ben brought him to the dorm. Ben and Charlotte were already going out and decided I needed to be seeing someone. Jed was Ben's single friend so they brought us together. That was the first time I met Ben too. He apparently took too much of a liking to me. Since then he's come to the dorm several times and … forced himself on me."

Devon's voice cracked and she broke down in tears again. Zain shook with rage and turned back to Jed.

"Didn't you see the bruises? You could have stopped this!" He said through gritted teeth.

"Its not his fault," Devon protested.

"Its not _just_ his fault," Zain replied angrily, "you should have told someone, he should have realized something was wrong and you," he said, turning to Charlotte, "shouldn't have brought him into this place to begin with. Now _I'm_ going to put an end to it."

* * *

The storm had finally past over them, heading in a westerly direction.

"How am I supposed to be helping you?" Asked Eddie, panting in the desolate alley. They couldn't go back to his apartment, they would have set a trap for him there, according to Bayley.

"You're gonna help me kill my father," Bayley replied.

"What! I can't do that! I'm not a killer!" Exclaimed Eddie.

"That's not what I saw earlier."

Eddie looked away. His hands still shook from before, when he had slaughtered those men.

"Anyway," continued Bayley, "if you're going to help me you need to get caught."

"Nothing you say makes any sense," said Eddie, "why would you want to kill your father? And why would you help me escape from some armed men just to tell me to let them catch me."

"I promise I'll explain everything later," answered Bayley.

Eddie looked back up just in time to see Bayley's fist fly towards his face. She struck him and he fell to oblivion.

* * *

Zain never thought Ben would be behind this. The man seemed so insignificant. Zain realized this was probably because he had only met the guy once, when he arrived a couple of days ago and Devon introduced him to everyone. Since then he had never seen Ben and almost forgot about him completely.

Maybe Zain was paranoid but from the things Devon said about him, like how he always seemed to know when she would be alone in the dormitory, told Zain he had an ability too. That could make the fight harder than expected. Zain only knew one other person with an ability, someone he never got into a fight with. It didn't matter. Zain wasn't going to back down. He would bring the storm to Ben and rip him to shreds.

* * *

The man sat at the table deep in thought. It was here. The wind started to pick up. Small drops of rain started pattering on the windows. The heavens let loose a faint rumble of thunder. It was the warning he had been waiting for. The storm was finally here. He could feel it. It was right outside his room, knocking on his door.

_Knock.  
Knock.  
BOOM!_

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


End file.
